Archive for
October, 2010

Lead in generic ballot large enough to give Republicans solid majority control of U.S. House

by Frank Newport, Jeffrey M. Jones, and Lydia Saad

PRINCETON, NJ — The final USA Today/Gallup measure of Americans’ voting intentions for Congress shows Republicans continuing to hold a substantial lead over Democrats among likely voters, a lead large enough to suggest that regardless of turnout, the Republicans will win more than the 40 seats needed to give them the majority in the U.S. House.

SACRAMENTO – In 2006, the last time candidates for governor and U.S. senator shared a ballot, large majorities of voters in Riverside and San Bernardino counties helped re-elect Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democrat Dianne Feinstein.

Leading into Tuesday’s election, the economically battered two-county region is a big piece of the campaigns by Republicans Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina to win hard-fought contests for governor and Senate.

The conviction of a Rancho Cucamonga councilman last week marks a major step in the ongoing investigation into corruption in San Bernardino County government, according to political experts.

While prosecutors maintain they were always confident in their case against Rex Gutierrez, Gutierrez’s attorney and spokesmen for other defendants and potential defendants have continuously alleged the investigation is a politically motivated waste of taxpayer money.

A new study shows Latinos have soured considerably on illegal immigration in the last three years.

In 2007, 50percent of Latinos surveyed told the Pew Hispanic Center that the growing number of illegal immigrants was a positive force for the existing Latino population. In a Pew survey released Thursday, that number had plummeted to 29percent.

City water district cash falls from $60 million in 2008 down to $3.7 million October 30, 2010 2:00 PM Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • The city posted a $1 million budget gap at the end of the first quarter, according to a financial update on Tuesday’s agenda.

The city used reserves to plug a $4.7 million deficit at the start of the fiscal year July 1. Management said revenues needed to increase and expenses needed to drop during the year, since those reserves won’t be there to cover a similar shortfall at the end of the year.

VICTORVILLE • As Victorville fights to appeal the precedent-setting termination of its EB-5 Visa Investor program, city staff is scrambling to rebalance a budget less $25 million those investments were expected to bring.

Meanwhile, a few dozen aspiring immigrants are waiting to hear whether they’ll get to come to America as planned. And 19 are anxious to find out what’ll happen with their $500,000 investment into Victorville’s wastewater treatment plant.

Brown opens a 13-stop caravan in Oakland as Whitman courts independents and women in San Diego and Orange counties. Fiorina is in Seal Beach as a Boxer spot featuring President Obama hits the air.

Meg Whitman traveled to San Diego and Orange counties Saturday trying to appeal to independents and women. “We have a chance to … put the first woman governor in California in office,” she said. (Lenny Ignelzi, Associated Press / October 30, 2010)

By Cathleen Decker and Michael J. Mishak, Los Angeles Times October 31, 2010

Reporting from Los Angeles and Fresno — Buffeted by advertising, besieged by phone calls, buried in campaign mailers, California voters on Tuesday will close out an election for the history books, its massive outlay part of a Republican effort to ride a national wave of enthusiasm and a Democratic attempt to turn out voters less motivated this year than in the landmark presidential election of 2008.

Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman are wrapping up their campaigns for governor, leaving voters Tuesday with a very distinct choice – between an experienced politician who says he’ll be the most frugal governor ever and a former CEO who has spent more than $160 million in an attempt to convince voters that the state needs a political outsider to rebuild it.

Kicking off a three-day get-out-the-vote tour with a visit to Sacramento, GOP Senate candidate Carly Fiorina urged Californians Saturday “to finally retire” Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, calling the incumbent a career politician who has not done enough to bring new jobs to the state.

Former Gov. Pete Wilson is the only politician to have beaten Jerry Brown in an election. In 1982, Wilson, then-San Diego mayor, trounced Brown, then California’s bigfoot governor, in the race for U.S. Senate 51 to 45 percent. Now Wilson serves as Meg Whitman’s campaign chairman. On Thursday, he told me not to believe polls that show Whitman losing by as much as double digits. Whitman, he says, has a real shot at beating Brown.

Polls that show Whitman losing, Wilson said, “are greatly underestimating the enthusiasm on the part of the Republicans and pretty much a lack of it on the other side.”

With just days left before the midterm election, Republicans are targeting House seats in blue-state bastions and Democrats are attempting to save dozens of threatened incumbents.

By Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times October 31, 2010

Democrats fought Republicans on Saturday in a campaign battle that stretched coast to coast, pushing against an epic tide of anger, frustration and economic anxiety that could sweep the GOP to control of one and possibly both houses of Congress.

Adam Aleman, the prosecution’s key witness in the San Bernardino County Assessor’s Office scandal, covertly recorded conversations with former Assessor Bill Postmus for investigators before he even had a plea bargain in place, according to court testimony.

News of the recordings was revealed Friday when Postmus’ attorney cross-examined district attorney’s investigator Hollis “Bud” Randles on the third day of a preliminary hearing in San Bernardino Superior Court for Postmus and co-defendant Gregory Eyler.

A San Bernardino County district attorney’s investigator on Friday denied that his office told witnesses to withhold statements from a grand jury investigating former San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus.

Postmus’s attorney Stephen Levine got the question in over objections from county prosecutor Lewis Cope during a morning of testimony at the preliminary hearing of former San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus.

An ad hoc committee tasked with reviewing Riverside’s ethics code is recommending several changes in how ethics complaints are handled, including one proposal council members have rejected in the past.

The council appointed the committee in September to do a full review of the code. It covers elected officials and appointed members of boards and commissions, and it outlines values such as making unbiased decisions and not using one’s position for personal gain.

SAN BERNARDINO • The District Attorney’s confidential informant secretly recorded conversations with embattled former San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus for at least 15 months to help advance a far-reaching corruption probe, Senior Investigator Hollis D. Randles testified Friday in San Bernardino court.

The investigative method came to light on the third day of the preliminary hearing for Postmus and his former aid Greg Eyler. The two men face felonies for allegedly defrauding taxpayers through what prosecutors call a conspiracy to use the county Assessor’s office as a political machine.

Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 2.2 million in California, according to new figures released Friday by the secretary of state’s office.

The numbers show 44% of the state’s voters are registered Democrats; 31% are registered Republicans. More than 20% of the state’s voters declined to register with any political party. In all, more than 17.2 million Californians are registered to vote, up from just under 17 million Sept. 3.

L.A. NOW Southern California — this just in October 29, 2010 | 2:52 pm

The nation’s main advocacy group for drug policy reform laid out its final advertising strategy Friday for Proposition 19, targeting young people and voters in Southern California with advertising on radio, TV, the Internet and in the Los Angeles Times.

The Drug Policy Alliance, which is running an independent campaign pushing the marijuana legalization initiative, received $1 million from multibillionaire investor George Soros earlier this week, which has funded a final-week advertising blitz.

Cal State proposes a 5% increase for the rest of this school year and a 10% increase for next school year, while UC regents are likely to vote on higher fees next month.

By Carla Rivera and Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times October 30, 2010

California’s two public university systems are expected to seek student fee increases next month to help pay for rising costs inside and outside the classroom that a recent boost in state funding didn’t fully cover, officials said.

Nouriel Roubini, Professor of Economics at New York University and Chairman of Roubini Global Economics speaks at the opening session “Rebalancing the Global Economy” at the Global Financial Forum in New York April 26, 2010. REUTERS/Mike Segar

On Friday October 29, 2010, 3:31 am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy is a “fiscal train wreck” waiting to happen that risks ushering in a period of stagnation featuring by minimal growth, high unemployment and deflationary pressure, U.S. economist Nouriel Roubini wrote on Friday.

In a commentary for the Financial Times, Roubini — one of the first economists to predict the housing crash in the United States and known as ‘Dr Doom’ for his pessimistic forecasts — said fiscal and monetary stimulus had prevented another depression.

What became of that planned Tuesday meeting between Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco and district-attorney elect Paul Zellerbach, overseen by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors chairman Marion Ashley?

A heated campaign between San Bernardino County Supervisor Paul Biane and Fontana Councilwoman Janice Rutherford has intensified in the months since June’s primary election.

Because neither received more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary, they must face each other in a runoff election Tuesday. The 2nd District includes Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Lytle Creek and Crestline.

SAN BERNARDINO – The City Attorney’s Office will sign off on a request to hire outside counsel to provide advice on a request for a human resources investigation of City Attorney James F. Penman.

“When it involves me, they always want to make a federal case out of it,” Penman said.

The City Charter requires the City Attorney’s Office to consent to any hiring of outside attorneys. Penman said he routinely grants such requests, but he has also said the pending investigation is politically motivated.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA – Voters in this city on Tuesday will have a lengthy list of candidates to chose from in a City Council race that has become one of the more unusual elections in recent memory.

Of the 13 candidates running for three open seats, one has been found guilty of multiple felony counts, two are former members of the City Council and another is a sitting councilman whose term isn’t up until 2012.

A day after Rancho Cucamonga Councilman Rex Gutierrez was convicted of theft, fraud and conspiracy in the San Bernardino County Assessor’s Office corruption scandal, his lawyer looked for possible appellate opportunities.

Even as money appeared to be depleted to fight such a battle, according to Gutierrez.

Over the past few months, Republican voter registration drives in San Bernardino County regained some of the ground lost to Democrats in 2008, but there is evidence of foul play.

Nearly 10,000 San Bernardino County voters registered as Republicans between May, just before the June primary election, and Oct. 18, the cutoff date for voters to participate in the Nov. 2 election. In the same period, nearly 5,000 voters left the Democratic Party. But some recently registered Republican voters contacted by The Sun say they never intended to register as Republicans.

Scott Folkens, the Republican hopeful for the 43rd Congressional District, is counting on more than just his party’s base to help him defeat incumbent Rep. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino.

“If all Democrats who told me they will vote for me make it to the polls, we have a really good chance at winning,” said Folkens, a former staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. “They are tired of his policies. I ran against him last election, and the mood is totally different now. This (will be) the biggest upset in the country.”

ADELANTO • Amid their protests against water rate hikes, the highly charged residents at Wednesday’s City Council meeting voiced concerns over some of the city’s bad roads and stalled development projects, and demanded to know when they’d see some progress.

A Beverly Hills developer has donated thousands of dollars to an independent expenditure group that supports two challengers in the Banning City Council race and opposes the two incumbents.

According to campaign finance records, developer Lloyd Fields gave $30,000 to Riverside County Taxpayers for Accountable Government, which is responsible for mailers and phone calls criticizing the incumbents, Mayor Bob Botts and Councilwoman Debbie Franklin.

This article is part of a special report, in which we hope to examine California’s broken dreams and lost status as a model state, and to try to find solutions – answers from experts and you, our readers.

Proposition 20 would double-down on the still-forming citizens’ panel that voters approved two years ago, allowing it to draw maps for Congress too. Proposition 27 would scrap it entirely. The story behind them is an intriguing web.

By Shane Goldmacher, Los Angeles Times October 29, 2010

The esoteric subject of who draws California’s political districts has morphed into a high-drama affair this fall, a multimillion-dollar struggle with political intrigue stretching from Sacramento to Washington and even, some suggest, to Israel.

It’s a battle about power, Nancy Pelosi and control of Congress, pitting a Los Angeles billionaire against the son of Warren Buffett’s business partner. There’s racial strife and even a full-length documentary in the mix.

Republican Steve Cooley’s popularity as district attorney, a nonpartisan post, in the Democrat-heavy county presents a challenge. Democrat

Kamala Harris, here speaking at USC last week, has stuck to a well-worn path of Democratic success: focusing on African Americans, Latinos and women, as well as reaching out to young voters who were lured to the polls by Obama’s presidential run. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times / October 22, 2010)

By Phil Willon, Los Angeles Times October 29, 2010

When Democratic attorney general nominee Kamala Harris opened a South Los Angeles campaign headquarters earlier this month, she picked a spot on Crenshaw Boulevard right next door to the site of one of Barack Obama’s satellite offices during the historic 2008 presidential campaign.

Running for higher office, Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley touts his crackdown on Bell city officials for alleged public corruption, but a whistle-blower says he complained more than a year before prosecutors took action.

Democrat Kamala Harris, Cooley’s opponent for attorney general, accused the Republican on Thursday of dragging his feet in the Bell probe. Her campaign officials pressed the argument by releasing a letter from Cooley’s office and holding a news conference featuring the whistle-blower, James Corcoran, a retired Bell police sergeant.

Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, the front-runner in the race for attorney general, received more than $4,000 worth of gifts over the past seven years that he did not disclose in annual public filings, a Chronicle review found.

Documents kept by the Republican prosecutor on gifts he or his office received show that since 2003, the prosecutor recorded dozens of expensive tickets to concerts, football and baseball games. While he disclosed most of those gifts in the required annual filings with the state, numerous gifts that appeared on his logs were not included in those state records.

SAN BERNARDINO – City Councilman Jason Desjardins announced Wednesday that he supports Measure C, the controversial city charter amendment on Tuesday’s ballot.

Measure C would give the City Council and mayor power to appoint the city attorney, city clerk and city treasurer. Proponents say the change will cut infighting out of city politics, whereas opponents say the referendum would eliminate critical checks and balances at City Hall.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA – After 14 years on the City Council, Rex Gutierrez, one of the most controversial leaders in the city and at one time a state Assembly hopeful, resigned from his post Wednesday following a judge’s orders.

Gutierrez was found guilty on all four counts of conspiracy, grand theft and filing a fraudulent claim during his tenure at the San Bernardino County Assessor’s Office.

ONTARIO – Sue Ovitt was at a loss for words as she looked at the city library, now bearing her last name.

On Wednesday afternoon, the main library at 215 E. C St. was rededicated the Ovitt Family Community Library. The unveiling was made in front of a crowd that included Ovitt’s family, friends and city officials.

With more than half of voters in the 32nd state Senate district registered as Democrats, Earl De Vries, a Republican candidate for 32nd State Senate District race, will need all the help he can get to defeat incumbent, Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Montclair.

The self-proclaimed pro-traditional family and pro-life candidate, De Vries said his plan to restore California to its “former grandeur as the Golden State” involves reining in “the tax-and-spend liberals and living within our means.”

The so-called Tea Party Patriots have popped up in political races across the nation, including the 62nd Assembly District campaign, which pits one of the group’s candidates against an incumbent who is seeking what would be her third and final term in office because of term limits.

Jeane Ensley, a Republican who preaches less government as the solution to the state’s multiple woes, is taking on Wilmer Amina Carter, the Democratic assemblywoman who says she has the experience needed to represent a district that includes Colton, Rialto, Muscoy, Bloomington and much of San Bernardino and Fontana.

POMONA – Voters in the Pomona Unified School District will head to the polls Tuesday and decide if they wish to assess themselves a total of $4 million annually for four years to provide some relief to the cash-strapped district.

District administrators have cut millions out of their budget in recent years and predict they will have to make about $15 million worth of cuts in the 2011-12 fiscal year budget, said Leslie Barnes, the district assistant superintendent of business services and chief financial officer.

This morning a San Bernardino County jury found former San Bernardino County Assessor employee and Rancho Cucamonga city councilman Rex Gutierrez guilty on charges of conspiracy to commit grand theft, two counts of grand theft, and one count of filing a false claim.

The charges stemmed from Gutierrez’s employment under former Assessor Bill Postmus.

The jury was in its fifth day of deliberation.

Gutierrez remains out on bail pending sentencing. He will resign his city council seat today.

U.S. Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina has canceled her scheduled appearance in Riverside this morning, saying she’s been temporarily sidelined by an infection related to her recovery from breast cancer.

The former Hewlett-Packard executive and Republican candidate was slated to discuss her plans to create jobs with a group of small business owners at Green Power Resource Management on Citrus Avenue at 11:30 a.m.

Two years ago, youth probation officials in San Francisco sent teenage illegal immigrants to group homes in San Bernardino County, but never notified San Bernardino County officials.

On Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, who is running for re-election to that position against San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, said the incident – which caused a stir when the immigrants fled their group homes – and San Francisco’s response are evidence of a lack of leadership and responsibility on Newsom’s part.

Supervisorial candidate Janice Rutherford raised more campaign funds than incumbent Supervisor Paul Biane in the first half of this month, pulling together about $36,000 more then her opponent between Oct. 1 and Oct. 16.

Rutherford said her fundraising strength – she also raised more cash than Biane in July, August and September – is a good sign in the campaign’s final days.

COLTON – A lawsuit former Police Chief Ken Rulon filed against the city in late 2007 seeking $10 million in damages could go to trial as early as next summer, his attorney said Tuesday.

San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Frank Gafkowski ruled this month that Rulon’s claims of whistle- blower retaliation, defamation of character and intentional infliction of emotional distress will be heard by a jury.

San Bernardino County Supervisor Paul Biane drove a county vehicle without a valid driver’s license for four years following a 2005 arrest in Cook County, Ill., according to officials from the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office.

Biane, who did not inform San Bernardino County officials of his arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence, said he did not know his license was suspended until 2009, when he attempted to renew it.

First time USCIS has halted an EB-5 regional center October 27, 2010 9:05 AM Brooke Edwards

VICTORVILLE • The federal government has terminated Victorville’s foreign investor program, ending the city’s hopes to raise tens of millions of dollars for projects at Southern California Logistics Airport.

It’s the first time U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has ever terminated an EB-5 program, agency spokeswoman Mariana Gitmore said by phone Tuesday. She said Victorville hadn’t been able to demonstrate that it meets the criteria to raise funds through the federal program, despite repeated requests for more information.

Democrat Jerry Brown Tuesday offered to stop airing negative campaign ads if Republican Meg Whitman would do the same. Whitman, who trails in most polls for the governor’s race, declined.

The suggestion that both stop negative campaigning in the attack-filled race came from Matt Lauer, co-anchor of NBC’s “The Today Show,” at the The Women’s Conference 2010 in Long Beach, which both candidates attended.

The deeply private novice politician stays on message and seldom strays into spontaneous situations. Californians have learned more about her from campaign crises and court cases than from her own telling.

Meg Whitman campaigns in Hollywood with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. The novice politician has seldom strayed into spontaneous situations, as most appearances tend to be by invitation only. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times / September 22, 2010)

By Maria L. La Ganga, Los Angeles Times October 27, 2010

Meg Whitman strode to the podium, cloaked in righteous indignation. Her husband stood silently by her side.

Just one day earlier, her former housekeeper had revealed that Whitman — the Republican candidate for governor with the tough talk on immigration — had employed an illegal worker for nine years.

With a new order extending furloughs for tens of thousands of state workers, Attorney General Jerry Brown has yet to say whether he will tell the roughly 1,800 employees working for him to start taking unpaid days off beginning next week.

Brown, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, and other statewide-elected officials are still mulling over a week-old memo from the Schwarzenegger administration that mandates furloughs for members of their staff who are in unions that have not negotiated a new labor contract.

Republican Senate nominee Carly Fiorina will remain in the hospital overnight for observation, aides said Tuesday evening, adding that she hopes to be back on the campaign trail later in the week.

Fiorina, a breast cancer survivor, was admitted to the hospital Tuesday morning for treatment of an infection related to her reconstructive surgery in July. After being diagnosed with cancer in February 2009, Fiorina underwent chemotherapy, a double mastectomy and radiation and was pronounced cancer-free that October. She completed reconstructive surgery in July, a month after the Republican primary.

The first lady tells about 1,000 supporters that Boxer, who is seeking a fourth Senate term, is an important advocate for the middle class and the Democratic Party agenda in Washington, D.C.

By Maeve Reston, Los Angeles Times October 27, 2010

First Lady Michelle Obama lent her considerable star power to Sen. Barbara Boxer on Tuesday, telling hundreds of supporters in the Mid-Wilshire area that the three-term senator was a critical advocate for the middle class and the Democratic agenda in Washington, D.C.

Obama described Boxer as passionately supportive of members of the U.S. military and their families, as well as small businesses.

Capitol Alert The latest on California politics and government October 26, 2010

California’s political watchdog agency has dismissed a complaint by Democrat Kamala Harris, candidate for attorney general, that a national Republican group is conducting an illegal $1.6 million advertising campaign against her.

Harris’ complained Monday that the 30-second attack ad by the Republican State Leadership Committee was required to contain a disclaimer listing their top two donors and failed to do so.

Billionaire Nicolas Berggruen has assembled a politically diverse group and pledged at least $20 million to press its proposals for transforming how Sacramento operates.

Investor Nicolas Berggruen says: “I am at home wherever I am. I am at home as a human being on this Earth. That is home. I don’t have a house.” (Johannes Eisele / AFP/Getty Images / September 3, 2010)

By Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times October 27, 2010

Reporting from Sacramento — An eccentric, globetrotting multibillionaire who doesn’t own a home in California — or anywhere, for that matter; he says he has little use for owning things — is about to breathe life into efforts to shake up Sacramento.

Just as previously forecast, dark clouds are closing in on San Bernardino County’s budget.

InlandPolitics.com has learned San Bernardino County’s current fiscal year budget deficit may have actually grown from the previously projected $90 million-plus figure to somewhere in the area of $130-$160 million.

An amount that most certainly will involve deeper budget cuts with pretty much no magic tricks left in the bag.

The fight over measures L and M on Riverside County’s ballot continues to get more expensive.

The Riverside Sheriff’s Association pumped another $200,000 into the Yes on Measure L campaign on Oct. 5 and Oct. 16, bringing total contributions to $738,660 so far this year, newly released records show.

The Tea Party Express this morning endorsed more than two dozen congressional candidates in California, including Reps. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, and Ken Calvert, R-Corona.

But noticeably absent from the conservative group’s list is any endorsement in the 45th Congressional District, where Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs, is facing a stiff challenge from her hometown’s mayor, Democrat Steve Pougnet.

The California Supreme Court on Monday turned down Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco’s bid to use specialized courts such as family law, juvenile, and probate to hear criminal cases at risk of being dismissed because of speedy trial guarantees.

The 7-0 decision was written by Chief Justice Ronald George. He said that while the disputed statute cited by the district attorney does give criminal cases precedence over civil matters, it is not absolute.

The local home construction industry had its worst September in four years last month, according to a statewide report released Monday.

In September, builders pulled only 303 single-family home permits in the Inland Empire – an 83 percent drop from when the market was booming in September 2006 and 1,811 building permits were pulled, according to the California Building Industry Association.

FONTANA – Officials here face a mixed-bag of economic news heading into Wednesday night’s City Council meeting, where they are scheduled to approve first-quarter budget changes recommended by the Management Services Department.

The city has plenty of reserves in place to manage a $1.224 million deficit created by an $848,000 General Fund shortfall to end fiscal 2009-10, plus additional audit adjustments of $376,000.

SACRAMENTO • As probes continue into the exorbitant salaries of city officials in Bell and Vernon, State Controller John Chiang unveiled a new website Monday that details the compensation of local government officials statewide.

Two Victor Valley municipalities — Apple Valley and Victorville — are listed on the state website as “failing to file salary and compensation reports” and could face $5,000 penalties, according to the Controller’s office.